A definitive biography of Liz and Dick, Hollywood’s most controversial and glamorous couple
Roger Lewis answers what it is about Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor that still hooks us in
Books and Arts
Wednesday
Wolves of Winter focuses on the brutality of the past
Dan Jones confidently evokes the whorehouses, the illnesses, the death and depravity
Will ‘accessibility’ ruin ballet?
In the most exquisitely beautiful —and painful — art form, elitism is the show
Jerry Miller’s tale
Moby Grape could have been a contender but never quite were
The bold new vision for Edinburgh’s National Galleries of Scotland
The galleries are not only an aesthetic pleasure to visit but a fine and salutary reminder of the greatness of Scottish art
Radical in the Rotunda
With a presidential election this year, it is time to contemplate the iconic work of John Trumbull afresh
Tuesday
The Spectator’s 2023 Books of the Year
Our writers weigh in
Meeting Margaret Cavendish
The seventeenth-century philosopher and playwright was a trendsetting, quixotic genius
Britney Spears’s much-anticipated memoir is a desperate cry for help
Once again, America owes the singer an apology — just not for the reasons she suspects
The birth, death and rebirth of American Psycho: The Musical
In the year 2023, improbably as always, the musical proved a success
Have we misunderstood David Fincher?
The director’s continuing ability to challenge, provoke and entertain is a marvel
Comic Con with a Shakespearean twist
‘Even when the story is dark, Superman still stands for something — and we need more good guys like that’
Friday
America’s professor: the afterlife of C.S. Lewis
He is the myth-maker, the scholar, the convert, the defender of the faith, the rebel, the writer and the teacher
Adam Sisman’s new John le Carré biography entertains and disappoints
While I expected the le Carré who emerges from it to be a womanizer, a fantasist and a self-server, I didn’t anticipate that he would be such a terrible bore
How the CIA interfered in the Congo
Stuart Reid relates the whole convoluted tale lucidly, conveying the steadily growing atmosphere of confusion and fear
The gap between technotopia and dystopia are never far apart
Mustafa Suleyman’s new book is a rousing call-to-arms for humanity
Two excellent books that offer new insight into The Iliad
A new translation and critical study explore the legendary poem’s numinous spell
The great Marty Stuart, possessor of one of popular music’s legendary guitars
He stands five-foot-seven in his stocking feet, but with Clarence White’s Telecaster slung around his neck, he looks ten feet tall
Age is catching up with our much-beloved musicians
In our increasingly secular age, we worship rock stars as our deities, as figures who inspire our hopes and dreams and fantasies of excess
George Harrison at eighty
Of the four Beatles, Harrison was the most attuned to, and wary of, the mania side of Beatlemania